Alright so for the last two weeks my brain has fried, I haven't slept (see Insomnia thread) and have not thinking straight. So last Monday, after not sleeping a wink for the entire night, I decide that I'm going to go and buy tablas, NOW!!! I tell my roomate and he's like, "Alright. But bro, I thought you're broke". I had failed to realize that.

  So now I'm thinking, "How can I get a set of Tablas NOW???!!!" I was sitting on my couch at the time and happened to glance into my bedroom and what did I see? A drumset! My practice kit that I don't need anymore (I was given a kit to practice on from the studio I rent, so haven't used my practice kit since moving to Montreal). So right there and then, without another moment to think about it, I start packing up my spare kit. Steve comes in and is like, "Dude, what are you doing?". So I explain to him that I'm going to head downtown and trade in my practice kit for a set of tablas. And I did.

   Was this a smart decision? Of course not! But now I own a set of tablas and finally have enough space in my bedroom to get a bed (I've been sleeping on my floor for the past three months). But that's not the end of the story....

   I get back the Metro station by my house and remember Shawn. He's the ethnic percussion teacher at McGill University in Montreal. I had emailed him almost a year ago telling him I was moving to Montreal and wanted to get some lessons from him on tablas. He said sure but we never spoke again. So when I got back to my Metro station I went over the internet cafe and emailed him, asking again about lessons. But this time I gave him my phone#. Well phoned me 3 hours later and I started the next day! That was last Tuesday and today I got my 2nd lesson from him. I'm going tabla crazy!

    Man are these things tough to play.

Kudos and welcome to the club!

I've played all manner of instruments both eastern and western, traditional and modern, wind, string, and percussive ... and tabla is by far the most difficult instrument I've ever approached.    Good luck, and have fun!

    Thanks brothas! I've been putting in 45min/day so far; 5 minutes on 9 different exercises w/o stopping (as recommended by my teacher). It's so addicting. If I had time to double the amount of practice time I would without a 2nd thought. Stupid time.